ABSTRACT
The heart is one of the major target organs observed in spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) as well as in hypertensive patient. The long lasting pressure overload produces the alteration of cardiac structure and electrophysiological properties. SHR provides a model for longitudinal studies of the natural progression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) produced by a pressure overload. In SHR numerous studies as to the progressive increase in LVH and its’ pathological changes with age have been reported. The essential cause of electrocardiographic changes in LVH may ascribe the remodeling of the heart in continuous hypertensive state by which the development of the electromotive forces and the cardiac transfer factors will be altered. In SHR, the duration of hypertension was the most important factor in the development of ventricular arrhythmias. The higher incidence of spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias and the reperfusion ventricular arrhythmias were observed with the pathological aging of SHR.
